In an interview on Meet the Press, former Clinton chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and Former Sen.Alan Simpson talk about the realities of fixing the debt. These two respected gentlemen were asked by President Obama to chair a commission, examining the problem of the debt. They did, but the President apparently didn’t like what they came up with. He ignored their work entirely.

Speaker of the House John Boehner was stunned when President Obama told him that there was no spending problem. The debt was a result of the expenditures on health care.

Both Simpson and Bowles spoke with uncommon candor for Sunday show guests. They charged that the measures Congress has taken to address our debt and deficit problems are woefully inadequate, and they had very harsh words for the fiscal cliff deal signed into law last week. Simpson criticized the President in particular for ignoring the recommendations produced by the deficit reduction commission.

“Don’t forget, in our commission, we got five Democrats, including Dick Durbin, five Republicans, including Tom Coburn, one independent, how do you do any better than that?” Simpson asked. “And the president ignored it, and the Congress has ignored it because they won’t do the big stuff, and the big stuff has got to get done…we’re the healthiest horse in the glue factory right now.”

Bowles emphasized that, while lawmakers have tackled the easy problems facing the nation, the more difficult ones remain. “We have got to reform the tax code to make it more globally competitive, we have got to reduce this entitlement spending…and we have got to make social security sustainably solvent.” Bowles said. “It’s gotta be growth, it’s gotta have some revenue, but the big part going forward has gotta be spending cuts,” he concluded.

Economist Alan Reynolds said “President Obama does not understand economics, and apparently he will not listen to anyone who does.” I keep repeating this, but the statement is proved to be true over and over.